Page 10 of Billionaire's Coastal Haven

Lucky pounds her fist on the table. “Let the meeting begin.”

Charlotte glares at Lucky. “That’s my job.”

Greyson pulls out his phone to take the meeting minutes. “If Prince doesn’t respect the estate’s heritage, we need to convince Mr. Webber to cancel the sale.”

“He won’t,” Francesca says from behind the counter. “Ryan tried to talk him out of it this morning, but they’re drowning in debt.”

Bill crosses his arms over his chest. “We block Mr. Prince’s permits and prevent him from doing any work on the property.”

“You said cabins. What if he’s building a boy scout camp? Do we want to stop that?” Charlotte asks.

“Based on the conversation I just had, he’s not philanthropic. He doesn’t care what we want. He’s out for himself and doesn’t care about the town. Any work he does will negatively affect us if we don’t find a way to make him see our point of view.”

“You can’t know that. Were you nice to him?” Charlotte asks.

I chew the inside of my cheek. “Mostly.”

They grimace.

It wasn’t my most diplomatic conversation, but the condescending jerk had it coming. Walking away in the middle of a friendly conversation, accusing me of trying to manipulate him, refusing to tell me his plans…not gentlemanly behavior.

My usually personable temperament and charm weren’t cutting it.

“No wonder he didn’t tell you his plan.” Lucky unfolds and stands from the table. “If you went in there growling like a wolf, I wouldn’t have been nice to you either.”

“Maybe the council should talk to him?” Paisley says.

Lucky shakes her head. “What Rainwater Bay needs is income. We need Mr. Prince to build a resort to lure tourists away from Pine Ridge and Seattle to our neck of the woods. Something as big and grand as the Reeves estate itself.”

“He doesn’t want that,” I say.

Neither do I. The house is elegant and refined, not something you remodel into two dozen motel rooms. Besides, he said he wants peace and quiet. What does that look like to him?

Elsbeth tents her fingers under her chin. “This is the perfect opportunity for Mayor Winslow to negotiate with the newcomer. Encourage Prince to help us out. In exchange for the permits and contracts he’ll need to get the project done, of course. What is the mayor’s stance, Zoe?”

“Umm.” I knew I should have called Dad.Stupid mistake, Zoe.But I know Dad well enough to know what he’ll say. What he wants isn’t what’s best for the town though, so I face the bear and lie…again. “He wants the house preserved.”

Lucky flutters her fingers. “Prince can build around the house. I move to require Mr. Prince to build a resort to boost our economy.”

Paisley raises her hand. “I second.”

“We need to talk about this,” I say. “You can’t just force him to build something. Neither the Historical Preservation Society nor the town council have that much power. Besides, a mega resort won’t solve our problems.”

“Three stores closed in the last month.” Lucky holds up three fingers in succession like I can’t count. “It won’t be long before Rainwater Bay is as much of a ghost town as the Reeves estate. Unless that’s what you want? Is that what your dad wants? Is that why he’s not doing his job?”

“He’s healing.”

“Is he feeling better?” Charlotte places her hand on my forearm.

“Everyday. But he’s still not at a hundred percent.” The truth is he’s lucky to be alive. Returning to work isn’t an option. It’s too stressful, especially given today’s developments.

But he doesn’t believe the doctors. He hopes in a month or two or six, he’ll be strong enough to sit in this chair and debate with the council.

Our plan is for me to be the go-between and prevent them from holding an emergency election. My plan is to save his reputation until he realizes it’s time to retire. I will tell his lieuntil he’s ready to tell them the truth on his terms. By then we will be ready for whatever the future holds.

“I agree with Lucky and Greyson.” Charlotte’s gaze is full of sympathy and pity. “Baby Girl…Zoe, your daddy has blocked improvements that would have helped the town because of his broken heart. This can’t be one of those times. A big resort would be a boon for Rainwater Bay.” She wiggles her phone screen showing an article with a picture of Landon and people I assume are his parents and a brother smiling on a yacht somewhere sunny. “The Prince family owns hotels all over the world, so they know what they’re doing. It should be an easy conversation to convince him that this plan has merit.” Charlotte raises her hand. “All in favor of, first, granting the Prince Corporation permits to build a resort and, second, for Zoe to oversee the project for the council and Historical Preservation Society sayaye.”

“What about Archer? He needs to be given an opportunity to hear the proposal,” I say. Anything to buy time for me to think of another solution.